Zetsu is able to plant spores in his opponents' bodies, unknown to the opponents themselves since the spores do not contain chakra, rendering them virtually undetectable by standard shinobi sensory techniques.[1] These spores are time-delayed and once activated, grow into copies of White Zetsu. The copies proceed to restrict the targets' movements by covering their bodies and absorb their chakra. The absorbed chakra can be transferred to another individual if the copies of White Zetsu are able to make contact with the person.[2]

These spores can also be activated through a sudden surge of Senjutsu chakra and forced out of the victim's body as shown by Jūgo when he forced out six Zetsu spores.